Studs at the Pussycat Adult Theater is Moving Due to High Rent Increase

Studs at the Pussycat adult theater, located at 7734 Santa Monica Boulevard, is currently looking for a new home. A sign announcing its availability has gone up at the x-rated multiplex theater, which has operated as the Studs Theater since 2006 (prior to that, it was the Tom Kat theater).

Omar Fiori Cassing, who owns the theater with his husband Max Cassing, tells WEHO TIMES, they did not renew their lease, which is up at the end of the year. He said the rent has been raised too high, so they are looking to move to a new location.

“They are asking too much for rent, so we are moving out,” he said. “The owners, who we sold the building to, have raised the rent twice since we were allowed to re-open after COVID, so it is time to find another location. We are hoping to stay in West Hollywood, we just don’t know where right now. It’s no secret that we are leaving, but we plan on re-opening. We are not closing, just moving to a new place.”

The rent increased has trickled down to their customers this past year. General admission is currently $28–an increase from $23 last year.

Cassing says the theater had its challenges during the COVID-19 shutdown and it is now facing a new uncertainty as monkey pox cases continue to rise in Los Angeles County. “We see a change because of monkeypox,” he said. “Businesses is up and down. The theater goes days where it is very slow then somedays we pick up. We see a big difference in attendance. Everyone is scared of monkeypox.”

Another challenge the theater is facing is problems with public safety, especially with individuals experiencing homelessness who seek shelter inside the theater, “We see a lot of problems in safety around here lately,” he said. “If we call the police, the first thing they ask me is, ‘is the person homeless?’ I learned that if I say yes, it takes them forever to respond, so now I tell them I don’t know, I didn’t ask for their address.”

One incident escalated to where he was assaulted.

“In all the years that I worked here, I have never been assaulted and then one guy wanted to force himself inside. I told him he had to leave and he started punching me. I did not hit him back. I had cameras that caught the whole thing. It’s getting pretty bad around here. It is time to move somewhere else, maybe something smaller. This space is way too big.”

Cassing has owned the theater since 2006. He also brought back the Pussycat name and repainted the historical dancing Pussycat on the marquee.

The Studs Theater opened in 1940 as the Monica Theatre. It showed foreign films as the Monica International in the 1950s. By the mid-1960s, the Monica started showing soft-core porn. It moved to hardcore porn by 1969 under the Left Bank Theatre. It became the Pussycat in 1970 and goes down in history as one of the first theaters to show porn classics like “Deep Throat” and “Devil in Miss Jones.” The front of the theater still has the hand and foot prints of porn legends like Linda Lovelace (1973) and John Holmes (1985).

The Pussycat went gay for pay and became the Tomkat Theater in the 90s. It was rebranded as the as Studs in 2006 and is now also known as Studs at the Pussycat. Cassing brought back the Pussycat name and repainted the historical dancing Pussycat on the marquee.

The Studs is the only Pussycat theater left standing. It is one of two porn theaters that remain in Southern California. The Tiki Theater, a much smaller venue, is located at the opposite end of Santa Monica Boulevard near the 101 Freeway.

The move Studs at the Pussycat Adult Theater, is yet another end of an era.

For more history on the Studs Theater in West Hollywood, visit this fascinating theater blog: https://losangelestheatres.blogspot.com/2017/03/monica-theatre.html.